My thoughts on the Heavy Update

[Cicatriz]

I was pretty against the update before it came out, especially the Sandwich. But after playing last night trying out all the features I can honestly say it has the least impact on TF2.

With the medic patch came the ubersaw(which I love btw). But with that came a significant increase in ubers.

With the pyro patch came the compression blast. It is the most useful defensive weapon I can think of. Blows stickies away from sentries, easily pushes ubers back and reflects all the offensive rocket/pipe bomb spam. But it completely changed the way the game was played, it was a whole new element to think about.

Now for the Heavy update, we got nothing game changing imo and thats a good thing. Natasha is a good weapon, I was talking to Alpha-One when he was trying it out extensively and he seemed to like it better than sasha. Natasha doesn't slow ubers, it only slows people caught in the fire and if you are caught in a heavy's main weapon fire you are likely to die anyways. The sandwich, it's good for lone heavies, personally I will always be using the shotgun because it's the only good weapon to use on the move. So many players don't realize how powerful it is, especially when you can pair the shotgun up with the KGB. The KGB acts like the ubersaw to me, slower, same damage, but you get a bonus from it. The KGB's power doesn't come from getting multiple punch kills, the power comes from getting that one punch kill and switching to your shotgun. You can easily get two shotgun kills after a KGB kill.

On to the maps...
I really enjoy Arena. The servers that I went to weren't that great, but that's mainly because they weren't eGO servers and there was swearing, bad team play, no admins and they all seemed to rotate like every 3 rounds. BUT, that being said, if you had 18 people playing, 6 per team and well organized it would be AWESOME. Also I think it would be a great place to try out my "True Team of TF2" idea--- http://www.edgegamers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42744

Steel is awesome, except when Lafinass dominated me that one time... I was pissed But beyond that I love the map. A little difficult to get around at first but you start to get the hang of it.

I have yet to play the new payload map but I'm sure it's decent if not good-great.


In conclusion, this update brought upon good alternatives(heavy weapons) but ones that didn't change the way the game is played(which I think is the most important thing to take from this). The new arena is sweet and so are the maps. If you don't like the new weapons/game modes/maps, don't use or play them.

 

[koolaid]

agreed i wasnt for it either but he ne maps were so sweet

 

[zpie]

om nom nom

I personally really enjoy the effort put in by the crew working on team fortress to keep all the updates not only exciting and easy to use, but also, and I would argue more importantly, true to character design and development. I'll be frank, Team Fortress is the only game I play simply because the art direction follows the concept (ie. the idea itself isn't realistic so it should be done in cartoons) something that is sorely missing the the gaming world. These new updates and new promotional videos (meet the _____) I feel they have fleshed out the different classes, making each slightly more ridiculous and simultaneously lovable.

In the instance with the heavy updates, not only are the new weapons innovative but they also add the new level of humor to the game (I'm sorry I just really love the OM NOM NOM of the heavy eating the sandvich, it makes me giggle every time).

I marvel at the overall continuity of TF2, in tying in the promotional videos with the updates as well as the game play and maps, the music and voice acting. The crew really have done marvelous job of developing fun and instinctual game play with art direction that in my opinion is air tight.
Cool beans I say.

Z

 

[Dreadmaker]

Alright, I feel like I should weigh in on this too.

The Heavy update is great. It keeps the general game "balance", as it were (unlike the medic/pyro packs which, as cicatriz said changed the gameplay entirely), and it gives heavy players something more to think about. This is good; I have found games can really only get better when they give the players more choices. There will be weapons deemed useless by the community, but they will all have their situational purposes. I'm sure valve will come out with a creative way to fix that.

Plus, look at valve! How clever they are. They have 6 more updates to publish, and I'm going to assume if they continue going at the current rate, They will be done in 2 years or so. This extends the life of TF2 for a long, long time. Plus, who's to say that they won't give another update to all the classes when they are done with the first round? after all, if they are giving players one choice, why not give them two?

Needless to say, TF2 will be around for a long, long time now. This update was very good in terms of maps and gameplay modes as well.

Frankly, I look forward to the next one, and I say to valve, heartily "keep up the good work!"

 

[Blackfang]

I know natasha is weaker, but it just seems like it has more power. Im better with natasha even though i dont notice it slows people down.

compression blast is the greatest thing that can be offered

the ubersaw is just amazing giving you an uber with 4 hits.

so yeah i guess i say theyre balanced.

 

[Qooo]

natasha is really a let down... i expected something different but another machine gun which does 25% less damage and bearly slows anyone down :|

 

[Darkshade]

I think natasha is stronger because i dont think it only slows the person down i think it slows there shooting as well. I have seen people go against someone with natasha against the plain heavy gun and the plain heavy gun heavy loses. I am also better with natasha.

 

[Vainiac]

being on the receiving end of natasha, Ive definitely noticed being slowed down when hit. Alot of the time that extra second means the difference between making it around the corner to safety and dieing before you get there.

 

[Show No Mercy]

Besides the constant buzzing and lagging of seven heavies, being an engie and having a heavy bump you around between you and your sentry so he can hang by the dispenser and fire his achievement, ubers out the yahoo and many other usual annoyances of an achievement release... I think Valve did a superb job with the whole package from graphics to text.

I'll get them as I get them, I'm in no rush as they are not going anywhere. It should be entertaining along the way however.

Cheers,

SnM